[Archive]

Posted By: Corey R. Shanus

Jeff,

"Doug, I'm sure Hal will want to come on and straighten this all out."

Not sure what there is to straighten out -- unless that is you think Doug is lying. He said point blank that Hal did not bid on any of his lots that ended up in Barry's auction, and that whoever did paid in full for them (including the BP).

If in fact Hal felt the prices were not high enough or for some other reason bought back through an intermediary some of his cards, what is Mastro supposed to do? I recall a thread about this issue several weeks ago and Barry Sloate, as trusted and respected as any board member or auctioneer, himself stated that as long as the consignor is not doing the bidding and in the absence of uncontrovertible evidence the bid is being placed on behalf of the consignor, he will accept the bid.

I might add that I am not that naive to believe that in the hobby overall all reported auction "sales" actually took place. However, if I was charged with investigating this practice within the hobby, I would find my time much better spent by focusing on auction houses other than Mastro.